Desperation tactics

Attempting to close a gap in the polls by trying to destroy Barack Obama's integrity, John McCain's campaign has taken a negative turn.

McCain would have us believe that Obama's history is so controversial that he's not fit to be president. However, McCain's tactics are defeated by the very fact that he himself has ignored these supposedly decisive issues until just a few weeks before the election, when his campaign has become desparate.

If these issues were so legitimate, McCain should have identified them long ago as game-changing issues and would have mentioned Obama's tenuous ties to William Ayers earlier. Most of McCain's gossipy, guilt-by-association stories are months, if not years, old and range from utterly false to totally irrelevant.

McCain once prided himself on his honor and integrity. Now he's become what he once despised -- a politician consciously dividing the country for his own electoral benefit, as was also demonstrated by his irresponsible choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate.